>> Thursday, August 17, 2017

By
Mar T. Supnad

PANIQUI , Tarlac —
“Drug addicts are liars.”

This is how
Bishop Dindo Ranojo, of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI or Aglipayan
Church) Diocese of Tarlac, disowned a drug suspect who claimed he was an
Aglipayan priest when arrested with two others in a buy-bust operation in this
town recently.

“Randy
Valdez is not a member of the IFI,” said Bishop Ranojo. “Randy is not and has
never been a member of IFI. Before I became a Bishop, I have worked in our
national office and I did not encounter his name.”

Valdez, 35 along
with drug targets Camille Franilla, 23 and Mike Raven Quinto, 20 was arrested
here last August 5 when he allegedly handed over two sachets of “shabu” to a
poseur-buyer during a buy-bust operation by elements of the Municipal Police
Station led by Supt. Joel Mendoza.

Upon his
arrest, Valdez told investigators he was an Aglipayan priest, said Mendoza.

Ranojo
disclosed that Valdez belongs to one of the several “factions” of their church.

“Valdez is
a member of the PICC (Philippine Independent Catholic Church). He does not
belong to the mainstream (Aglipayan church). Their group occupied some of our
churches,” added the IFI bishop.

“When we accosted Valdez along with the two
other suspects, I thought he (Valdez) was joking, or either high on drugs, when
he introduced himself as a priest. But it turned out to be true, he is a priest
of the Aglipayan church,” Mendoza said.

It turns
out that Valdez, who is a native of this town, is the destined priest OF the
Aglipayan Church in Cuyapo.

“The target
of our entrapment were Camille (Franilla) and Quinto who are both on our municipal
watchlist of drug personalities. It was Camille who received the P500 marked
money from my policeman poseur-buyer but it was this person (Valdez) who handed
the two plastic sachets of shabu. That’s why we arrested them,” explained
Mendoza.

He added
that Quinto, who yielded five sachets of shabu, has three siblings who are
allegedly known drug pushers.